A blog inspired to teach my children about other countries and cultures through their food. It also includes music, arts, and literature from those countries as well.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE

The tropical country
of the Central African Republic doesn’t leave much to the imagination as to
where it’s located. It’s in the central part of Africa. And it’s a republic.
More or less. The geographic center of Africa is on the Central African
Republic (CAR) and Cameroon border (technically, I think it’s in Cameroon). This
landlocked country is surrounded by Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, the new country of
South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Condo (DRC) and Congo.Most of the country lies on rolling
plains and vast savannas and is a little smaller than the state of Texas. The
Ubangi River is one of the major river systems in the CAR, which is part of the
southern border.

The area was
originally inhabited by Ubangian-speaking peoples and Bantu-speaking
peoples.In the mid-1800s, Arab
slave traders bombarded their way into this area of Africa and “took what they
needed” so to speak, leaving many regions of the CAR with much smaller
populations.During the last
1800s, the French joined in the Great African Land Grabs and established a post
on the Ubangi River, near the current capital city of Bangui. They called their
newly acquired territory Oubangui-Chari. In 1958, it became an autonomous
region and that’s when they changed their name to Central African Republic.
However, it’s founding father, Barthélémy Boganda, died in a plane crash the
next year, to which there’s still some mystery over the circumstances of the
plane crash to this day. The CAR finally gained independence in 1960 – marking
the beginning of a series of power struggles that will more or less go on until
today.

The capital city is
Bangui (pronounced “bahn-ghee”), located in the southwestern part of the
country, on Ubangi River.Just
across the river is the country of Democratic Republic of the Congo.The country has little urbanization,
and this is the country’s largest city at around 734,000 people. Because of
this, it’s the center of government, the center for the arts and business as
well.

The Central African
Republic uses French as its official language: the language of educational
instruction and official business. However, most of the people speak and use
the Sangho language at home and amongst themselves. Sangho is Ngbandi-based
creole language. Some linguists dispute whether it’s actually a creole or not,
based on its sentence structure and other factors. While there are many loan
words from French, this language stands out – it’s a creole based on an African
language rather than a European one like you find in so many other places where
Europeans invaded and controlled at one time.It has the same sentence structure as in English
(subject-verb-object) and puts adjectives directly in front of nouns like
English does as well.

Because of the
influence from the French, the Central African Republic has about half of its
population who consider themselves followers of Christianity.And of that, it’s pretty much half
Protestant and half Catholic. There is a small percentage of Muslims in the
country as well. Around 35% participate in various indigenous beliefs, and I’m
speculating that there are a number who follow more than one religion.

Statistics are, for
the most part, pretty dismal. The CAR ranks 180th out of 187
countries in regards to the Human Development Index, mostly due to the constant
instability in the government and economy. The country faces problems with
deforestation and desertification. While they do have natural resources of
diamonds, gold, oil, and uranium, the country still has problems with
unemployment and underemployment (especially in the cities). Maternal mortality
rate is fairly high as is the risk for major infectious diseases such as
hepatitis A, typhoid fever, malaria, meningococcal meningitis, and rabies. Over
1/5 of kids age five and under are reported as underweight, and access to clean
drinking water and sanitation are not readily available across the country,
even in the urban settings. AIDS is a problem in the country, which is one of
the factors (among others) why the life expectancy is only 50 years old. It’s
really hard to think that I, at age 33, would be past middle age.Like many other struggling countries in
this area, only the main roads are paved – most of the roads are red dirt roads
that zig-zag its way through the land, following ancient herding paths.There are a few bright spots, though. Several
years ago, the National Geographic magazine ranked the Central African Republic
as the country least affected by light pollution, which is pollution created
from the use of unnatural light.

The Central African
Republic has one of the most diverse cuisines and cultural arts traditions –
which makes it hard to pinpoint what’s truly indigenous to the CAR. Many of the
people have emigrated from the country for one reason or another, mostly for
refugee-related reasons. But some have left for other reasons, like Anicet
Lavodrama (former basketball player, was drafted for the Los Angeles Clippers
in the 1985 NBA draft as a 3rd round pick, also played for the
Spanish Liga ACB for 13 years.) There have also been tennis players and soccer
players and others who have made a name for themselves and have represented
Central African Republic in the capacity of their field.For a country that has suffered a lot,
much at the expense of its own people, the Central African Republic has much to
offer as well, especially through its cultural arts. I think this will be
another country that will surprise me as I venture into its arts
traditions.

About Me

I'm really nerdy. I have several writing projects going on, and I also have a really long list of books I'm working my way through; I'm still adding books to it, so in essence, I'll never get through it. I'm an amateur food and culture blogger, an amateur baker and cook, an amateur musicologist, an amateur grammarian, an amateur know-it-all, and a professional dreamer. Follow me on Twitter: @KayoSmada.